Times are Changing
by messyhxdlovers
Summary: Kelly Parker decides to move from Denver and join the Rock girls,which really brings out the bad side of Lauren. Kaylie can't decide between Nicky or Austin. Emily is beginning to become the dark horse and Payson is trying everything to keep level headed.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first payson/sasha story...Uni work is always a priority and I have this huge draco/harry story planned that I haven't finished, but I just HAD to write this after reading a few. So hopefully you all won't be too impatient with me =).**

**I'm really not too sure of the time frame...but just assume that this is after Kaylie is out of rehab and they're all on the national team for 2010. AND THIS IS AFTER PAYSON AND SASHA KISS.**

_**Italics are flashbacks!**_

**Disclaimer: i own nothing unfortunately!**

**Chapter 1 **

Sasha Beloff had many qualities he prided himself on, but none more so than his ability to recognize change; whether that be adapting to change, helping someone else adapt to change or making the change himself. So as he stood outside the gym office watching the ex-National Champion; Kelly Parker walk into the Rock he silently smirked to himself.

He received the call from Kelly herself just two days ago asking to switch from Denver. To say he was surprised was an understatement. He knew his four elite gymnasts wouldn't be too pleased; but the knowledge of knowing he would have the ex-National Champion and the current National Champion under his watch was too much to turn away.

The 2010 National Championships were only 3 weeks away, he needed Kaylie to get her confidence up after being released from rehab, he needed Lauren to stop looking so distracted every time she did a routine, he needed Emily to try and separate her mind from gymnastics and her being on probation and most of all; he needed Payson to stop looking at him as though he was going to run away.

Admittedly he was part to blame for that last part. Kim Keeler had found him fishing down by the lake after he had tried to leave The Rock. Kim's guilt trip wasn't even the worst part.

"_Come on Sasha, you of all people know this isn't about you! It's about the girls! You're their coach." Kim's voice got softer towards the end._

"_They can do this without me. They have their routines...They'll replace me with someone better."_

"_Jesus Sasha...I don't even care right now that my soon to be 17 yr old daughter kissed you. But you made a promise to bring her to the Olympics, you made a promise to ALL of the girl you'd bring them to Olympics and you're going to pull out because...because of what exactly? What exactly is your reason?" she finished with a frustrated flourish of her hands. _

"_Yeah Sasha...what IS your reason?"_

_He and Kim spun around to find Payson, Kaylie, Lauren and Emily by what he assumed was Kaylie's convertible. _

"_Payson? Did you follow me?" He had asked._

"_No. I followed my mum. But not the point...what the hell Sasha? We work our asses off doing my new artistic routine, you drag me to get the officials to watch me, they let you stay yet you walk away! What's the deal?" She had begun to stalk forward with the other three slowly following her. _

"_Me being there has led to more damage than anything else." He tried to continue but Kaylie cut him off._

"_Even IF that were true, you think walking away is the solution? You forced me to face my anorexia as much as I denied it and because of that I dealt with it. It was hard; sure, but I sure as hell didn't run away." She finished. _

"_You abandoned me! You abandoned everyone!* I can keep going, but I think I'll let the others have a go." Payson said, a slight flush becoming her cheeks. _

"_Come on Sasha, you know you don't even have a valid point in leaving. We're all going through something right now and the last thing we need is our coach leaving us." Emily said with a softer but firm voice. _

"_This isn't about you! This is about US! We need a coach we trust to take us to Nationals, Worlds and eventually the Olympics." Lauren said her voice filled with spite. _

_He saw the other three girls do a slight eye roll at the typical Lauren attitude but they didn't disagree with her. _

"_You need to get your act together! We've all done stupid stuff to! I mean look at Payson, she kissed you for god sake and she's not acting like it's the end of the world! Emily, she's on probation...freaking probation that could possibly leave a criminal record and she's not running away from gymnastics. And Kaylie...well she already told you about that." She continued to rant. _

_The other three girls turned to her with slightly raised eyebrows._

"_What? It's true...but the point is, we're working THROUGH it." Lauren said whilst doing a breast stroke action with her arms. "And what are you doing about your problem Sasha? Running away like a coward." She finished, her defiant stare challenging him. _

_He could hear Kim gasp behind her, obviously not believing Lauren could be so blunt. The other three gymnasts however stood their ground. There was a moment of silence before Payson spoke. _

"_Has Lauren said enough Sasha? Are you convinced? Should I take over? Because I assure you I can be much blunter than her." _

It had taken at least another half hour of insane guilty tripping from all of them to convince him to get into his truck and drive back to the Rock. But now that he was back; he didn't regret it one bit.

"So...I have to call you Coach Sasha now don't I?"

He turned around to see Kelly Parker at the bottom of the stairs.

"Yep. It's good to see you, just wait here I'm going to call the girls over." He knew he really didn't need to call them over; they were already staring at Kelly with mixed expressions of confusion and in Lauren's case...anger.

"Girls!" he said, motioning for them to come over.

"Kelly Parker is now training at the Rock. Let's not forget that you're all on the National Team and I expect you to work as one." He said as the four girls stood in front him. They stared at him with stoic expressions.

"Ok...get to work. Payson I'll be seeing your floor first."

They all nodded and left.

"Where's Andrea?" Kelly said before walking to warm up.

Andrea Conway made up the 6th member of the National Team. The two alternates were Nina and Isabella; he could see them sharing the mat as they critiqued each other on their floor routines.

"Called in; her grandmother died over in San Francisco, I felt it was a plausible excuse to get a day off...now go warm up!"

"Yes Coach..." Kelly's face was serious, but he could hear a hint of sarcasm in her voice as she walked away to join the other four girls at the warm up mats.

"UGH! Can you believe the "devil horns" is training with us?" Lauren said as they stretched in splits on the warm up mats.

"This could be a good thing Lauren, we're all on the National Team...this isn't like club versus clubs anymore." Kaylie replied, her body flat to the ground as she stretched out her inner thigh muscles.

"Kaylie's right, this could be a real advantage to make our team stronger." Emily said, her back bent, leg behind her in a scorpion.

"Whatever! It's still Kelly Parker...Kelly. Parker." Lauren said punctuating her name.

"That's my name!" a voice said. They turned their heads to see Kelly; devil horns and all in a blue and yellow leotard bending down, legs apart stretching.

"Still working those devil horns Parker? You sure they aren't natural?" Lauren said as she held her left leg in a side mount.

Kelly gave a small smirk, ignoring the insult and continued stretching.

"Well...personally, you shouldn't get your hopes up about anything. I'm the best at beam here; everyone's DOD is up by at least two points...even the two alternates." Lauren continued with a smirk as she pulled her right leg into a back mount.

Payson interrupted any response Kelly was about to give.

"Enough. You heard what Sasha said, we're all on the National Team. We have to start acting like one. If we don't, we could risk losing team gold or worse, not getting any gold in the individual comps because we're all too wrapped up in this drama."

Lauren put her hands up in mock surrender.

"And anyway Lauren, we all know Payson's first on every apparatus right now." Kaylie said with a knowing smile.

"Not by much on beam, and besides, I'm just saying...don't think you're going to be awesome here Parker...this isn't Denver...there are actually GOOD gymnasts here." Lauren said defensively before heading over to the vault.

"What a ray of sunshine she is." Kelly said as she went down into a pin.

An unsuspecting laugh came out of Payson's mouth. Emily looked over at her with a surprised face before turning to Kelly. "She's just threatened by having you at the Rock is all. And it is kind of a surprise."

"Yeah...why the sudden change of heart Parker?" piped up Kaylie, her voice slightly muffled by the blood rushing to her head as she stretched her back in a bridge.

"It's not like Mrs Ray of Sunshine over there was right but...three-quarters of the National Team are at the Rock. It's better training as a team all under the one coach." Kelly replied.

"Dimitri Beloff was named the National Gymnastics Coach a week ago; he spends half his time here and half his time in Denver." Payson questioned, her toes pointed in front of her as she slowly lifted her leg in front of her.

"True, but Marty isn't as good as Sasha."

The Three Rock girls raised their eyebrows at her.

"What? It's true and you know it. No need to act all surprised." She snapped slightly.

"As nice as that compliment is Kelly you girls have stretched for long enough. Payson, to the floor; I'll come see the rest of you soon." Sasha's voice suddenly appeared behind them.

They all scrambled up and went their separate ways.

"I know I nailed this routine at the National Trials but I was thinking of changing it up a bit. Don't worry I'm not thinking too many power elements, but perhaps two or three more tumbling passes, I just don't think having one or two aerials is going to be enough." Payson said as they headed to the centre of the mat.

"What were you thinking?" Sasha replied.

As she began explaining the small changes she thought necessary his eyes flitted momentarily to her blonde hair. The fluorescent lights gave it a shine every time she turned her head. Her face was perfect; she had those beautiful blue grey eyes.

"So what do you think?"

His shook his head slightly before speaking; his voice slightly hoarse.

"That sounds good, but let me see you do the original and then again with the slight changes. We'll record both on the training cam and we can take a look later to see which would score higher. There's no point in establishing yourself as an artistic gymnast with an equivalent DOD to your past power style and then throwing in too many power elements; it wouldn't make sense." He rattled off; the coach part of him coming back into play.

She nodded understandingly as he stepped back to give her room to begin. As the sound of Tschaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty came on he sighed to himself. He couldn't help but notice something had shifted, a similar if not the same feeling as when Kelly Parker stepped through the Rock doors this morning.

***this part is taken directly from the promo that I saw on youtube!**

**What do you think? I had heaps of fun writing this and I hope you enjoy. Now I don't really follow gymnastics so I don't know much about the technicalities. So there's a national team who compete...then they do world trials to get onto the Worlds team. Then they compete in worlds and then the Olympics Trials and then the Olympics? **

**Someone PLEASE tell me if that's wrong; because it'd just be highly embarrassing. **

**Next chapter will be from Paysons perspective =).**

**Please review! I would appreciate it like...a fat kid who loves chocolate cake!**


	2. Drama

**Thank you so much to Ida-Cullen, Bailey90, alysunspark, Elli-Wyatt...your reviews made my day =). I appreciate that you guys bothered to review as well as adding me to your story alerts!**

**Well this next chapter is from Payson's perspective! Enjoy =).**

_Italics are Payson's thoughts_

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

**Chapter 2**

_Keep it together Payson. One week. That's all that's left. Focus. Focus. Focus._

It was a constant mantra that she had going on since 5am. It was Monday, and exactly one week until the 2010 National Championships. She couldn't afford to be distracted...not by Lauren's glares to Kelly, or Emily's constant improving uneven bars routine, or Kaylie's double Arabian on the floor...or Sasha's almost attractive 5 o'clock shadow.

_Woah! Slow down there. Where did that come from Payson?_

She took a second to quickly glance over at Sasha who was demonstrating something to Austin at the pommel horse before she returned her focus back to the beam. _Snap out of it Pay! You haven't even finished the damn routine yet._

She breathed before jumping into her reverse Russian and landed solidly on both feet, arms straight out in front of her. She gracefully stepped out into an arabesque before arching her back and grabbing her leg into a straight legged scorpion. She took a deep breath as she released her back leg and threw her body back into two consecutive back handsprings and an aerial straight after, landing just on the edge of the beam. _Perfect Payson, now finish this off._

She shut her eyes for a second, took a deep breath and ran in for the dismount; she clenched her body tight as she felt her feet land solidly on the mat. She inwardly smiled as she saluted to finish.

"Excellent Payson."

She turned her head to notice Sasha standing by the beam.

"I still feel like I'm missing elements; I don't think it's hard enough." She said as she hopped back onto the beam, prepared to do it again.

A strange expression came over Sasha's face as he spoke. "Your DOD is just as high as when you were power gymnast, except this time you've combined artistic elements as well as power elements; it's a deadly combination. If you execute it just the way you did there, you'll take gold on beam for sure."

_Well that is true...I guess I'm still not used to the whole artistic element thing._

"Do it again, this time really focus on those extensions."

"I thought I was finally getting them." Payson said with a small frown.

"You are, but I want to see it extending all the way through to your head, to your fingertips, to your toes. Everywhere." Sasha said.

_Bloody artistic my ass_.

-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-

"Gorgeous!"

Payson saluted her finish before walking over to Sasha.

"Those extensions were ten times better, keep it exactly like that you'll be going home with gold." Sasha said as he met Payson halfway.

_He looks really nice when he's excited like that._

Her eyes widened at her thoughts and she had to cough slightly before replying.

"I plan on keeping it like that. Maybe though, I think I could probably put another double pirouette in there...what do you think?"

"Payson, the routine is perfect, any more changes and you might tire yourself out doing it. We can't get into the habit of changing your routines one week before competitions if it's not necessary; especially with the Olympics in view."

_I would argue, but he IS a four-time Olympic Champion. _

"Fine, I'm heading to the floor." She said understandingly as she grabbed her bag and headed over to where Kaylie was finishing up.

"Payson!"

She spun around to see Sasha with an expression she couldn't quite comprehend.

"Yes Coach?"

He hesitated before spoke. "I want you to stay late tonight; I want to see if we can up the DOD on your vault."

_I'm doing a Yurchenko two and a half...he wants to improve that? If I did a triple, I could hurt my back again._

"Sure." she said uncertainly as she headed over to the floor as Kaylie just finished her double Arabian.

"You're getting way more consistent." Payson said as she stretched out her back.

"Yeah, I'm so glad I can nail that double Arabian. It's the only thing keeping up my DOD. If I don't' land it, I might not even score past a 15.7."

"You'll land it, just keep practicing." Payson said. She thought she might have heard Kaylie mumble "The Payson bot is back" but she didn't hear it; she tuned out the noise around her to a low hum and she pulled her left leg to a front mount before slowly bending over, pulling past the 180 degree angle.

_If I put in a turning C jump after the turning cat leap I'll still have time to fit in three fouettes._

"Oh. My. God! I can't believe that little devil thumping bitch. Everyone knows I use the uneven bars after Emily. She just stalks in and demands that it's hers. And bloody Sasha letting her!"

Payson came back into focus to see Lauren glaring over at the uneven bars where Kelly was performing with Sasha critically watching.

"Oh Relax Lo, we all know Kelly's weakest apparatus is the vault. She'll be off the bars in a minute." Kaylie said, taking a sip from her gym bottle.

"Not the point! And exactly whose side are you on!" Lauren snapped back at Kaylie.

_Oh Jesus, please quit it with this drama._

"She's on the National team. That's whose side she's on Lauren." Payson cut in.

"I know you're the best and whatever Payson, but how could you not be worried either! She could knock any one of us off the podium. Now that she's training with us she's got an advantage over us! She knows exactly what we're practicing, exactly what we're bad and exactly what we're good at."

"She already knew what we're bad and what we're good at. There's nothing to hide here." Kaylie said, packing up her bag and readying herself to the beam.

"Ugh! There is no convincing you guys! So don't come running to me when at Nationals you're standing by the sidelines as you watch Kelly steal our dreams." Lauren said walking off to the uneven bars looking determined.

"What's up with Lauren?" Emily said as she walked up to them. Payson could see she was covered in a thin layer of sweat. _She's been working harder and harder...good on you Emily._

"The usual...feeling threatened by everyone and everything." Kaylie said with a small laugh.

She saw Emily open her mouth in response but she didn't hear because she was already walking away, focusing on her floor routine. As the music started she took no notice of Emily and Kaylie watching, no notice of Sasha walking over and definitely no notice of Kelly and Lauren having a verbal bashing contest.

Her thoughts remained on her extensions, the flow of music taking over her body and her facial expressions; something that she discovered whilst at those ballet classes Sasha made her go to.

As the final note finished she stood up and saluted before walking over to Sasha; the same expression she couldn't identify still in his features. "Wonderful Payson, you're really nailing that routine now."

"I'm thinking of putting a C jump in there...straight after the turning cat leap. I know it's a stretch, but I've tried it and I can still fit in those three fouettes."

_Say yes, say yes, say you'll agree_

"I'll take a look after I go through Kaylie's beam with her. Keep doing it; those moves need to be almost muscle memory." Sasha said as he stepped closer to her.

It was a strange instinct that made Payson take a step closer as she spoke. "Am I still staying late tonight for the vault?"

She thought she saw Sasha's eyes glance down at her mouth. But she could have been dreaming.

"Definitely." He said before taking a step back and striding over to where Kaylie was about to do a tuck jump onto the beam.

_Well that was...odd._

"Hey Pay! Can I borrow half the floor as well? My floor routines are not as strong as all my other routines." Emily said as she stretched out.

"Yeah that's fine, I'll be done here soon. I'll probably go over and do some resistance training after I do this routine again."

She thought Emily would walk to the corner to prepare herself instead she stopped and turned to her. "So what ARE your thoughts on Kelly here? I know you're focused but, you've got to have some opinion of her training with us."

"Lauren said earlier that her training with us was a disadvantage to us because she now knows exactly what we're doing and sure that's true but it also makes us stronger as a team."

"You're ranked one on every apparatus right now. You aren't scared she'll knock you off one?" Emily said slightly confused.

"Last year...I definitely would. But the whole point of all of us going onto Nationals is the first major meet we have to show the Olympic Committee that we all deserve a spot on that Olympic team. If that means she goes into the National comp as ranked one on some apparatus; then I guess it has to happen. And besides this is why I try and avoid all this drama, just focus on the gymnastics, and don't let things to distract you. Lauren's threatened because she lets it get to her; I'm sure if she just focused on the gymnastics she wouldn't be scheming all the time; like we all know she does."

Emily looked over at her with raised eyebrows.

_Great...And here we go... another comment on how Robot Payson is back._

"Well...that was insightful." Emily said.

"Yeah...Sasha said something familiar to me last year when I complained I wasn't first on every apparatus."

-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-

"Good job girls. You've all worked hard today; I expect to see all of you at 6:30am tomorrow sharp." Sasha said as he stood at the stairs to the gym office.

Payson began stretching again, knowing she was staying behind for her vault.

"Pay! You coming?" Kaylie said as her, Lauren and Emily stood in their tracks ready to leave.

"Sasha wants me to stay behind to bring up the DOD on my vault. We didn't get time to go through it this afternoon."

"Sasha so likes you the best out of all us. I mean, he has you staying behind, goes to the ballet with you, and took ballet lessons with you. I can totally see why you kissed him." Lauren said, completely oblivious to what she actually said.

He saw Kaylie and Emily widen their eyes at the awkwardness of the situation in which Lauren just did not seem to be getting.

_Typical Lauren._

"He doesn't like me the best Lauren, I was going through a hard time and he helped. He would have done the exact same thing to any one of you and you know that."

"Whatever." She said with a flourish of her hand. "Anyway, I was thinking; what are we going to do about Kelly? I saw her floor routine today, it was really really good, maybe even better than yours Pay." She said with a smirk.

_Oh she's doing it again...trying to insult me into helping her. _

"Well what do you plan on doing Lo? Breaking her legs?" Kaylie said with an incredulous expression.

"Besides, we're all on the National Team. Even if you somehow boot her out she'll get replaced...probably by someone worse. This doesn't do our team favours." Emily said softly her eyes flashing over to where Sasha was talking to Kelly.

"Better someone worse than her! Come on, I can't believe you guys aren't with me on this. This is Kelly Parker we're talking about. The annoying little devil that's been a pain in our sides ever since we first competed!" Lauren said, eyes going wide and staring at us.

_Ugh, why? Why? Why? Why can't gymnastics just be about gymnastics? Why does it have to be about killing other people...metaphorically...at least I think_?

"Well what exactly do you want us to do?" Kaylie said with a small resigned sigh.

Lauren smirked, taking this obviously as a sign of victory.

"Come to my place tonight! All of you...well Emily will already be there seeing as my dad decided it'd be a good idea to see your mother again." She said with a sigh of disgust.

"It's not my fault you got blackmailed then tried to turn your dad against my mum." Emily said, not exactly looking pleased either.

"And you can come whenever you finish up here Pay." Lauren said ignoring Emily and looking over at Payson.

_Oh jesus_

"I don't know Lauren...

"Oh come on! You can just sit there and mentally go through your routines if you want." She said with an exasperated sigh.

_What the hell have I gotten myself into?_

"Fine! Fine! I'll come; just...this is so not the right thing to do. But I'm only coming over to...supervise ok?"

There was a simultaneous eye roll from Lauren and Kaylie.

"Girls! If you don't plan on practicing more then I'll see you tomorrow morning, Payson needs to work on her vault." Sasha's voice bellowed from the other end of the gym. Kelly seemed to be nowhere in sight.

The other three nodded before waving goodbye; she noticed they all seemed to be arguing as they walked out of the gym doors.

"Let's see your vault." Sasha said as he stood behind the horse.

_Alright...let's go._

-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-

"Do you think I can push for that triple?"

"I saw you, you landed it consistently tonight but it's not the safest idea. One wrong twist and you could be really hurt again; I don't think I want to risk that." Sasha said as they walked over to the water stand.

"Wait...then why did you want me work on upping my DOD if you knew it just wasn't the right idea in the first place?"

_Seriously? Is anyone thinking straight recently?_

"I guess I just wanted to see if you were capable." Sasha replied, running a hand through his hair.

"You just said you weren't willing to risk me getting hurt again...I don't get it...you're confusing me." Payson replied, a frown marring her forehead. She was about to ask what his point was when he turned and walked away; a hand still buried in his head.

"Good Practice today Payson, go home and get some rest and I'll see you tomorrow morning and 6:30 sharp."

"Wait what?...Sasha!" She said running after him.

She caught up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder; he quickly moved away from her touch, as though it burned him.

_What is going on with him? Is he deciding to leave again?...oh my god, IS he deciding to leave again?_

"Are you deciding to make a break for it again or something?" she blurted out before she could stop herself.

He spun around, a glint in his eye. "No, of course not Payson; why would you think that?"

"Well you're not looking me in the eye for one thing, you're not explaining the real reason why you asked me to stay tonight...and don't say because you wanted to see the trip Yurchenko because we both know that's a lie. You're acting as though you're going to explode..." she said, trailing off.

"Just...just forget tonight." He said, slowly making his way back to the gym office.

_Oh hell no._

"No! You know me better than that. You can't just request for me to stay behind after practice and not give me a reason." She said forcefully; following him.

She managed to stop him at the entrance of the gym office, standing in front him and blocking his entrance.

"Now tell me! I deserve that much don't I?"

He ran a hand through his hair again.

_Huh...must be a sign of nerves._

"You really want to know?"

"I thought I made myself clear." Her voice defiant.

It was then she noticed something in his expression. The same one she saw on his face twice today. It was defeat; like he was giving up.

"Look Sasha, I don't want to come over so harsh so I'm just gonna say this calmly. You looked slightly on edge around me today. Is this about what happened that night? I said I'm sorry and it just happened because I was so happy I nailed that routine, if you think this is getting to awkward I could just work on the routines myself...or something." They both knew that that wasn't going to work realistically; a gymnast needed her coach to instruct her all the time.

He made a deep resigned sight before speaking.

"No it's not that Payson. "

"Oh my god...then just tell me!" her patience snapping.

Before she knew what had happened she felt soft lips being pressed against hers, calloused hands pressed on either side of her cheeks, the bristle of his 5 o'clock shadow tickling around her mouth.

Her eyes widened as she looked up to see his eyes clenched hard.

And as quick as it had started, it finished. His body suddenly pulled away from her, his eyes wide and his jaws clenched.

"That's why." He said, this time running both hands through his hair.

_What?..._

She opened her mouth to say something. Anything. But he interrupted her.

"That...that doesn't change anything. This never...it should...I think...I'll just see you tomorrow at 6:30am. Sharp." He said ending with a frustrated sigh before walking into the gym office with a stride of finality.

And for the second time that day Payson thought:-

_What the hell have I gotten myself into to?_

**All your reviews made me want to write this straight away! So everyone who reviewed gets a e-cookie! A gooey e-chocolate chip cookie! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Before I write any script I really try and imagine the characters saying what I write so that they're not too OOC. **

**And my my...Payson is slow on the uptake isn't she? **

**Next Chapter will be just in 3****rd**** POV and it will detail the three other elites talking whilst Payson is at the gym with Payson joining in later. **

**Don't worry they'll be more Kelly coming up as well as the introduction of Austin and Nicky. I'm just trying not to rush too much!**

**Please review =). **


	3. Plans

**Thank you again to Elli-Wyatt, Ksue, Bailey90 and Ida-cullen for praising reviews. I especially like Ksue's...it put a big smile on my face! Now I'm trying not to rush this story, so don't expect things to move too quickly. **

**3****rd**** POV**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything!**

**ALSO, PLEASE READ THE BOTTOM AFTER THIS CHAPTER ENDS!**

**Chapter 3**

"Ughhhhh, what are we even doing here Lo?" Kaylie moaned. She laid stomach first, spread eagled on Lauren's bed. "It's already 9 o'clock; Payson JUST rang and said she'll be another 10 minutes til she gets here and all we've done is sit here and compare facial products. Not that I'm a huge fan of bitching but...I thought we came over to talk about your current hate obsession." She continued, lifting and turning her head to the right to where Lauren was plucking her eyebrows by her vanity.

"I do not have hate obsessions. And we ARE here for Kelly; I'm just waiting for Emily to come back up with the pizzas." Lauren said swiftly.

"You know you should treat her a little bit nicer. I mean your dad and Chloe Kmetko ARE getting pretty cosy..." Kaylie said sitting up and running a hand through her brown soft hair.

"Never. I already deal with her at the Rock. I'm not obligated to be any nicer to her outside of the gym." Lauren said, her bitch face reflecting in the mirror.

"Well I love you to." Emily suddenly piped up. She stood at the entrance to the bedroom with 2 large pizza boxes in her hands.

"Finally!" Lauren said as she got up to take the boxes from her; completely ignoring what Emily said.

Kaylie sent Emily an apologetic look which she waved off with a small smirk as Lauren set the pizza boxes down.

"Now..." Lauren said as they all got comfortable on the floor. "I was thinking we could just fake not knowing our routines well enough so that Sasha will make us practice more. If each of us fakes one apparatus Kelly won't have a chance to practice; she'll have to use the annex. And everyone knows the annex sucks for proper training."

She didn't seem to notice the faces that Kaylie and Emily were pulling.

"Lo...seriously? You've pulled some pretty bitchy schemes...trust me, I would know. But that one just...

"Sucks." Emily finished for Kaylie.

"Yeah, for one thing, I really really don't think that's a good idea to do a week from Nationals; we can't just be focusing on one apparatus." Kaylie said, her expression getting serious. "And secondly, yeah we get that you hate Kelly but we can't let it get to us. We're a team remember? A Team." She continued as she wildly began to gesture.

"I don't see any suggestions coming from you two! Maybe if you weren't eating that pizza so quickly you'd give some ideas." She snapped back.

"I don't even know if I want to do this. Kaylie's right...we're all on the National Team together. We have to work as a team, if we don't we could lose the all-round." Emily said with a small frown.

"Yeah Lo...we all know you're only doing this cos you hate Kelly so much, but I think we should just leave it right now. This could cost us way too much. I don't know about you guys, but after coming out of rehab I'm not looking to make any more setbacks in my training." Kaylie said with a strong voice as she reached out for another Hawaiian slice.

"Of course I'm doing this because I hate Parker...but you're missing the point! We ALL hate Parker!...Or are you guys switching sides now?" she said unfairly.

"They're not switching sides Lauren. They're being reasonable."

The three on the floor looked up to see Payson standing at the doorway still slightly flushed from what they incorrectly assumed; was from vault training.

"And your logic makes no sense. You're letting your blind hatred of Kelly get in the way." Payson continued as she got comfortable on the floor before reaching for a slice of pepperoni.

"Did I just walk into an alternate universe or something?" Lauren said; eyes wide with incredulity.

"Oh my god Lo, you have to get it together. This isn't just about Kelly; this is about us winning Nationals!" Kaylie said, her patience finally wearing thin.

"Which we won't be able to do if Parker's there!" Lauren almost screamed.

There was a simultaneous resigned head drop from the other three elites as Lauren spoke.

"Ok look, here's a deal. How about we just focus on Nationals now and after we all medal...because we WILL all medal we can think about doing something about Kelly. That is, if Lauren still wants to." Emily piped up, trying to look reasonable although her expression begged to differ.

"Fine...but when Parker's standing on the podium and you guys aren't then you'll see you should have just listened to me." Lauren said as she reached for a slice of pepperoni; her actions seemingly trying to act as the end of the conversation.

"I don't care what the deal is; I am staying out of this. You know you wouldn't feel so threatened if you just focused on gymnastics." Payson said as she turned to Lauren.

"We all can't be as robotic like you Payson, some of us have feelings." Lauren said as she mockingly touched her chest.

Another simultaneous eye roll occurred

-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI—MIOBI-

Lauren POV

It wasn't like she didn't know Nationals were coming up and the importance of them. Of COURSE she wanted to be on that podium...would be even more awesome if she managed to beat Payson.

_Yeah like that's going to happen Lauren, snap into reality. She's a freaking robot._

She just felt her chances of being on that podium were going to be higher if Parker left. She knew Payson would medal on almost everything; Kaylie could possibly be medalling on the floor, Emily on the uneven bars and her, hopefully on the beam. But with Andrea working towards a double back with a full twist dismount on beam, she was facing some serious competition. Only Payson was able to do that dismount and even she took a stumble every now and then when she landed.

_This is about ME making sure I medal, without Parker I was sure to medal on beam and even uneven bars. This really screws things up for me._

She needed to up her DOD on beam if she wanted any guarantee she was going to medal. But doing that this close to Nationals was dangerous...a risk Sasha might not be willing to take.

_Damn you Parker!_

She couldn't risk not being able to medal on an apparatus. Without medalling at the Nationals really kicks the ego; you have to build yourself back up from the ground, attempt to ignore the doubt that clouds your mind and prepare yourself for the Olympic trials. It wasn't a good state of mind to be in.

_And damn it I will NOT be in that position. If it means risking the team gold then so be it! Screw the idea to deal with this after Nationals; they'll all thank me when she's gone._

She knew there was only one thing to do and only one person who wouldn't argue against her if she pleaded her dreams.

As she stood up and carried the pizza boxes down the stairs to the kitchen, she mentally prepared herself for the convincing speech.

_Bring it on Parker._

"Oh Daddyyy!"

-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI—MIOBI—

Kaylie POV

Despite coming out of rehab and having the largest set back out of all the gymnasts [of course, not including Payson and her back injury] she surprisingly felt solid...consistent. She'd be nailing her double Arabian on the floor, which was sure to place her in the top three. The only thing that needed improving...well needed "fire" as Sasha put it; was her beam.

The first thing she saw coming into the gym was Payson's double back with a full twist dismount on the beam; landing solidly...not one toe out of line.

_That girl is ridiculous. Even Shawn Johnson took a step out when she performed that dismount at the Olympic Trials in 2008._

She already completed a few warm up leaps and basic stretches as gymnasts slowly began to filter in. Lauren looking decisively smug, Kelly with her usual smirk and strut; hair already done in her classic devil horns and Emily rushing in looking dishevelled as usual. She took no notice of the other National gymnasts walking in. She didn't want to seem like she was excluding the other girls, but she didn't feel it necessary to make nice when she knew the REAL individual competition was really in Lauren, Kelly, Emily and Payson.

She was mentally preparing herself for her floor routine when her gaze was caught by none other than Austin Tucker coming through the doors in a slight rush. She glanced at the large clock that hung on the wall...he was 15 minutes late.

"Austin! You're late." Sasha said, stating the obvious. He had a real habit of doing that and for some reason it always made them feel worse.

"I know I know, I'm sorry, my bike wouldn't start up this morning. I think the cold weather-

"I don't want to hear excuses. Nationals are in six days and you out of everyone here should know how important preparation and consistency is...now go warm up!" Sasha said interrupting him.

_Austin. Tucker. Gold medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics..._

"I'm already warm. Stretched before I left my house." He replied, a slight smug look crossing his face.

"Good! Then you can go and show me your rings routine; right now." Their Coach replied with a small snap.

_God he's cocky. I'm surprised his ego didn't somehow get in the way of him walking through the Olympic Gym doors..._

With that last thought she snapped back into focus and dove straight into her floor routine.

-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI—MIOBI-

"How you feeling Pay?" Kaylie said as they took a break at the water station.

"Good. Feeling strong but still gotta keep trying to nail that tumbling pass on the beam. I'm slightly off centre when I land." She replied whilst taking a few small sips.

"Have you been watching Lo today? She's so much more confident. Something is definitely up."

"Why do you say that? Maybe we finally got to her last night and she's just more focused." Payson replied, although half her mind was still at the beam.

"Oh come on Pay, don't be naive. Yesterday she was all distracted and channelling her anger completely in the wrong way. Today she's focused, nailing routines AND doesn't bring up Kelly Parker once...mark my words, she's got something planned." Kaylie said as they both stared intently at Lauren discussing something that looked to be fairly heated with Sasha at the beam.

There was a moment of silence before Payson spoke.

"I'm gonna go and work on the uneven bars. Looks like Emily's finished and Andrea's still on her lunch break."

Kaylie shook her head as she watched Payson walk to the bars, stretching her arms as she went.

_Sometimes I do wish I could be like Pay. Focused, ambitious and eye on the prize all the time. Boy troubles are like...non-existent to her._

She sighed as she headed over to the vault to await her turn after Kelly who was also trying to perfect a Yurchenko two and a half.

"Glad to see you're landing that double Arabian."

She spun around to find Nicky Russo, face slightly flushed and hands white with chalk.

"Yeah all that weird stuff you did with me helped I guess." She said with a small laugh.

"You're welcome." He said with a smile.

_Woah..._

"Don't get too cocky, you might turn into Tucker."

He replied with a small snort before taking a step forward.

"What's up with you two anyway?"

"What do you mean?" Kaylie said, her "take caution" alarms beginning to ring.

"Come on, you know what I mean." He said with a knowing look.

"Nothing is going on...He was the first to realize I had a weight issue and he helped me through it; though I guess I wasn't so accepting in the first place. But that's it." She said, folding her arms and feeling a bit defensive although she wasn't sure why.

His hands flew up.

"No need to get so defensive Kaylie, just asking."

"Why?" she demanded.

"Can't a friend ask?" he countered back.

She smiled slightly at the comeback.

"That leotard looks really nice on you." He said quickly before jogging back to the pommel horse.

She felt her cheeks flush at the compliment.

_What was that? And why am I turning red?_

"Why so red Kaylie?" Kelly asked as she jogged over still slightly panting obviously from her last vault.

"No reason...you done with the vault?"

"You and Russo getting chatty eh?" she said with a knowing smirk, ignoring the question.

"No...He was just asking about my double Arabian." She replied with a confident smile.

"Sure...if that's what you wanna call it...besides the real view is over there." She said as she pointed over to where Austin was still at the rings.

Kaylie felt her back stiffen. "Yeah...what an awesome view." She tried to play it off, it didn't work.

"Oh come on Cruz, you can't say you wouldn't want to hit that? I swear if Sasha didn't have that no dating rule I would be ALL over that." Kelly said a lusty glint in her eye.

"Isn't your type like...lanky tall guys? You always feel in control or whatever." Kaylie felt herself getting frustrated without any real reason.

"Oh...I see how this is." Kelly said with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?"

But before Kelly could answer Sasha's voice boomed over from the training ropes where he stood with the two alternates. "Are you two done socializing over there? Would you like me to book a facial appointment for you?" the sarcasm in his voice was enough to get the two of them scrambling off.

-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI—MIOBI-

Sasha POV

She really didn't know just how talented and amazing she was. Of course there is always room for improvement...the "quest for perfection" as some call it. But pulling off moves like that...is just incredible.

"Payson, I know you don't feel as though it's strong enough or that your balance is perfect but you're landing it consistently and that's what's most important."

"One small bend in the wrong way and I could fall off! I'm missing something...it's not good enough." She said ignoring him as she jumped back on the beam preparing to do it again.

"Payson...Payson!" he yelled louder to get her attention. "Being critical is a good thing, yes, but you must be able to recognize when you're improving and when you're nailing something. This is one of those 'nailing' moments."

"Just one more go." She asked.

"No. Emily needs to use the beam now. Stop worrying. Go take a break if you need it and move onto vault." Sasha said with a stern look.

She huffed slightly before nodding and walking off to the water station.

_2 more hours till 6:30pm...almost there. _

To be honest he knew [and expected] his National Team to stay behind to at least 7:30pm but he couldn't wait to just sit in his trailer and release the tension in his muscles that had built from constant demonstrating and stress.

_Constant demonstrating and stress your ass Sasha. You know very well why you're feeling over-anxious today._

He glanced over at Payson who was running full speed toward the horse before throwing herself into the Amanar. He saw her feet plant into the mat as though held by glue before she saluted and walked back to the runway to repeat.

_Well at least she's not acting weird from last night...ugh what were you thinking Beloff! That little stint could've gotten you in so much trouble. What if she told someone? Worse...what if someone saw? The last time someone saw, you almost abandoned the entire National Team. Get it together!_

"What do you think?"

He turned back his attention to Emily who was slightly puffing from the exertion.

"Good. But you need to think about really arching that back when you go into the back handspring. You're left with less than an inch of room on the beam because you're not arching enough. Don't forget this isn't the floor routine, space is limited." He said as he showed her with his hands exactly how much room was left.

She nodded seriously before preparing to do the routine again.

-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI-MIOBI—MIOBI-

"Good work everyone. I am incredibly pleased with the effort I saw today. Keep it up, we aren't far away." He said with a small smile. "Now go home and get a long night's sleep. People with irritated knees and ankles, remember...ice, compression and elevation. I will see you all here again at 6:30am sharp. Do not be late." He gave Austin a quick look before motioning them to leave.

_Jesus what a bloody long day...Emily's centre of gravity really needs to pull together on the beam, Kaylie's vault was looking better although I really should've tried to push for a higher DOD, Kelly and Payson are both looking as strong as ever, Lauren was incredibly consistent today...and she can just forget about me upping her beam DOD right now, Andrea's solid on everything right now although I might have to pull that beam dismount on her; she's not sticking it consistently and going up against Payson and Kelly she's probably not going to get silver or gold in any individual event. Although I suppose everyone in this gym knows it'll be hard to top either of them._

He ran a hand down his face trying to will away the headache that was forming from just thinking about his National Team.

"Sasha?"

He looked up from the office couch to find Payson at the doorway. The office was dark and the light from outside surrounding Payson from the doorway almost made her look...ethereal.

"Oh Payson, I thought you'd left. What can I do for you?" he said as he stood up to meet her halfway.

"What happened last night?"

_She's always been a 'straight-to-point' type of girl..._

"Can we just forget about last night? It was a mistake and I'm really sorry. I crossed the boundary between athlete and coach, it was wrong and it won't happen again." He said although it sounded a little too rehearsed.

_Please don't push this. I can't deal with this. WE can't deal with this right now._

"You thought it was a mistake?" she asked, an indescribable emotion flittering across her face.

"You don't?" he replied tentatively.

There was a moments silence before she spoke in a very controlled voice, as though she was holding back.

"Let me try something."

"oh...kay." he said cautiously.

The kiss this time was slower, less urgent but so much more intense. His head spun as she softly grasped at his hair, his arms slowly entwining around her hips; inevitably pulling her closer.

It was probably only 30 seconds but it felt like half an hour when they gently pulled away from each other. She stepped back from him, flushed and slightly panting.

_Bloody Hell she looks beautiful._

"Your turn now...was it a mistake?" His voice shook slightly.

"This...this shouldn't be happening Sasha. We're so close to Nationals...this CAN'T happen." She said as she slowly took a few steps back.

He nodded despite ironically feeling his heart sink slightly. He opened his mouth to say he agreed, but she interrupted him.

"At least not now."

_Oh bollocks._

**Well? What do you think? Like I said up the top, I like to take things slow; I really dislike stories that move their relationship to quick.**

**Also you might have noticed I am not a gymnast at all, I'm actually a dancer so I've used some dancing terms instead hahah. But I've been trying to do my research and if I get something wrong please tell me!**

**I hope you enjoyed the little plots lines going in there with Lauren and the introduction of Austin and Nicky and their effects on Kaylie =).**

**And please review! Every review motivates me to write another chapter =D.**


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